City museums and city development
Contributions by Marie Louise Bourbeau, Caroline Butler-Bowden, Szu-yun Chang, Chi-jung Chu, Anja Dauschek, Geoffrey Edwards, Max Hebditch, Susan Hunt, Jack Lohman, Marlen Mouliou, Gulchachak Rakhimzyanovna Nazipova, Chet Orloff, Georges Prévélakis, Eric Sandweiss Edited by Ian Jones, Robert R. Macdonald, Darryl McIntyre
Publication date:
26 September 2008Length of book:
198 pagesPublisher
AltaMira PressISBN-13: 9780759111806
Traditionally, city museums have been keepers of city history. Many have been exercises in nostalgia, reflecting city pride. However, a new generation of museums focuses increasingly on the city's present and future as well as its past, and on the city in all of its diversity, challenges, and possibilities. Above all, these museums are gateways to understanding the city—our greatest and most complex creation and the place where half the world's population now lives. In this book, experts in the field explore this 'new' city museum and the challenge of contributing positively to city development.
Cities need museums as people need memories: not as a repository of their past, but as a token of their identity and a guide to the future. Here is a unique survey of city museums from five continents to stimulate discussion about such museums' varied functions – from archive to development workshop.